Spatial Patterns and Scales of Collembola Taxonomic and Functional Diversity in Urban Parks

Anthropogenic pressures can affect the distribution of species and elicit the appearance of spatial patterns that provide insights into the species’ responses to environmental filtering, mediated by their functional traits. Due to the functional redundancy in ecological communities, the spatial variations of species and functional traits can occur at different scales, but little is known on this topic, especially for soil arthropods with limited dispersion capabilities and highly dependent on environmental characteristics. The present research aims at shedding light on the spatial ecology of both the taxonomic and functional biodiversity of collembolan communities colonizing urban parks, adopted as model taxa for their functional traits, diversity and sensitivity to environmental drivers. To this end, the spatial patterns and scales of collembolan communities from 8 parks in Naples (Italy) and 14 in Montpellier (France) were investigated through an approach based on Moran eigenvector maps, modified to allow for evaluating the community spatial connectivity and the scales underpinning the spatial variation of each species and functional trait. The obtained findings demonstrate a limited spatial connectivity of collembolan communities in terms of both taxonomic and functional diversity, with mostly species-specific micro-scale variations that may be shaped by environmental constraints.

Spatial Connectivity and Regional Economic Resilience in Turbulent Times

The increasing number of economic shocks and disruptions and their highly heterogeneous territorial impacts reopened the debate on the ability of regions to withstand and recover from exogenous shocks. This paper focuses on the recessionary impact of the 2008 global financial economic crisis. It empirically explores the relationship between pre-crisis spatial connectivity and economic resilience across European Union (EU) regions over the 2008–2015 period. The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 1312 NUTS-3 regions in 25 countries. Standard, spatial and multilevel hierarchical regression models are applied to investigate the effect of spatial connectivity and other pre-crisis determinants on regional economic resilience across three geographical scales: national, NUTS-2 regional and NUTS-3 regional. The results show that accessibility is an important factor for EU NUTS-3 regions to build resilience capabilities to exogenous shocks. Our findings demonstrate that higher accessibility is associated with greater regional economic resilience. The model results indicate a positive effect of migration and a negative effect of the ageing population on regional reaction to the crisis. Our analysis highlights the importance of country effects and spatial spillover effects on the ability of regions to shape resilience capabilities.

Integrated Assessment of Ocean Acidification Risks to Pteropods in the Northern High Latitudes: Regional Comparison of Exposure, Sensitivity and Adaptive Capacity

Exposure to the impact of ocean acidification (OA) is increasing in high-latitudinal productive habitats. Pelagic calcifying snails (pteropods), a significant component of the diet of economically important fish, are found in high abundance in these regions. Pteropods have thin shells that readily dissolve at low aragonite saturation state (Ωar), making them susceptible to OA. Here, we conducted a first integrated risk assessment for pteropods in the Eastern Pacific subpolar gyre, the Gulf of Alaska (GoA), Bering Sea, and Amundsen Gulf. We determined the risk for pteropod populations by integrating measures of OA exposure, biological sensitivity, and resilience. Exposure was based on physical-chemical hydrographic observations and regional biogeochemical model outputs, delineating seasonal and decadal changes in carbonate chemistry conditions. Biological sensitivity was based on pteropod morphometrics and shell-building processes, including shell dissolution, density and thickness. Resilience and adaptive capacity were based on species diversity and spatial connectivity, derived from the particle tracking modeling. Extensive shell dissolution was found in the central and western part of the subpolar gyre, parts of the Bering Sea, and Amundsen Gulf. We identified two distinct morphotypes: L. helicina helicina and L. helicina pacifica, with high-spired and flatter shells, respectively. Despite the presence of different morphotypes, genetic analyses based on mitochondrial haplotypes identified a single species, without differentiation between the morphological forms, coinciding with evidence of widespread spatial connectivity. We found that shell morphometric characteristics depends on omega saturation state (Ωar); under Ωar decline, pteropods build flatter and thicker shells, which is indicative of a certain level of phenotypic plasticity. An integrated risk evaluation based on multiple approaches assumes a high risk for pteropod population persistence with intensification of OA in the high latitude eastern North Pacific because of their known vulnerability, along with limited evidence of species diversity despite their connectivity and our current lack of sufficient knowledge of their adaptive capacity. Such a comprehensive understanding would permit improved prediction of ecosystem change relevant to effective fisheries resource management, as well as a more robust foundation for monitoring ecosystem health and investigating OA impacts in high-latitudinal habitats.

Mapping and measuring spatial connectivity of the pathways to home-based businesses within informal urban contexts

PurposeThis paper presents a mixed methodology to map and analyse the spatial connectivity of the everyday pathways that link the doorway of an individual's home–work locations to the local main commercial street. These pathways include public streets, semi-private lanes, alleys and stairs.Design/methodology/approachPathways within different morphological areas in Hanoi, Vietnam, are used as examples to illustrate the development and application of the methodology. The methodology, adapted from Conzenian, typological, and space syntax methods, combined with observations and interviews, seeks to overcome several identified limitations of each of these approaches for understanding pedestrians' horizontal and vertical movement patterns within urban settings.FindingsAnalytical diagrams of pathways are developed on figure-ground maps of the neighbourhoods and three-dimensional projections of circulation spaces within buildings. Scatter plots are used to analyse the distribution of collected samples according to their business types and distances to local main streets. Field observations and interviews with homeowners revealed the critical influence of the pathways' spatial characteristics on home-based businesses' operations.Originality/valueThe methods developed here are potentially useful for urban morphologists and urban designers in decoding the intricacies of informal urban settings and understanding their socio-economic significance for users.

Spatial Connectivity and Temporal Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity of Musical Emotions Evoked by Dynamically Changing Tempo

Music tempo is closely connected to listeners’ musical emotion and multifunctional neural activities. Music with increasing tempo evokes higher emotional responses and music with decreasing tempo enhances relaxation. However, the neural substrate of emotion evoked by dynamically changing tempo is still unclear. To investigate the spatial connectivity and temporal dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) of musical emotion evoked by dynamically changing tempo, we collected dynamic emotional ratings and conducted group independent component analysis (ICA), sliding time window correlations, and k-means clustering to assess the FNC of emotion evoked by music with decreasing tempo (180–65 bpm) and increasing tempo (60–180 bpm). Music with decreasing tempo (with more stable dynamic valences) evoked higher valence than increasing tempo both with stronger independent components (ICs) in the default mode network (DMN) and sensorimotor network (SMN). The dFNC analysis showed that with time-decreasing FNC across the whole brain, emotion evoked by decreasing music was associated with strong spatial connectivity within the DMN and SMN. Meanwhile, it was associated with strong FNC between the DMN–frontoparietal network (FPN) and DMN–cingulate-opercular network (CON). The paired t-test showed that music with a decreasing tempo evokes stronger activation of ICs within DMN and SMN than that with an increasing tempo, which indicated that faster music is more likely to enhance listeners’ emotions with multifunctional brain activities even when the tempo is slowing down. With increasing FNC across the whole brain, music with an increasing tempo was associated with strong connectivity within FPN; time-decreasing connectivity was found within CON, SMN, VIS, and between CON and SMN, which explained its unstable valence during the dynamic valence rating. Overall, the FNC can help uncover the spatial and temporal neural substrates of musical emotions evoked by dynamically changing tempi.